Upon the swearing in of Brett Kavanaugh as the newest Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after he was falsely accused by Democrats of sexual attacks and impropriety, Google lead designer Dave Hogue let loose on Twitter with a profane rant that condemned Republicans to a painful eternal destiny of torment.
And he wasn’t fired for it – at least not that we know of.
The now-deleted tweet said:
You are finished, @GOP. You polished the final nail for your own coffins.
F***. YOU. ALL. TO. HELL.
I hope the last images burned into your slimy, evil, treasonous retinas are millions of women laughing and clapping and celebrating as your souls descend into the flames.
Just as noteworthy and revealing about the corporate culture that Google fosters is the fact that the company, rather than issue a direct repudiation, instead defended its business.
“What employees say in their personal capacity has no bearing on the way we build or operate our products,” a Google spokeswoman told Fox News.
There was no apology, no defense of the indefensible, no promise of an investigation, no statement of disavowal of the sentiments Hogue expressed.
In contrast, consider how some other corporations handled incidents and statements from their employees that were inappropriate or offensive.
When a manager improperly called Philadelphia police on two black men who sat in a Starbucks without buying anything as they waited to meet with a friend, CEO Kevin Johnson was aghast.
“You may be aware of a disheartening situation in one of our Philadelphia-area stores this past Thursday, that led to a reprehensible outcome,” he wrote in an apology to customers and employees. “[We plan] to investigate the pertinent facts and make any necessary changes to our practices that would help prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again….Starbucks stands firmly against discrimination or racial profiling.”
Whatever you think of how the coffee chain handled the matter subsequently, you cannot deny that it was strong.
Then there was the response ABC had following Roseanne Barr’s offensive, racist tweet about former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett.
“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey.
And then there was ESPN’s response to former “Sportscaster” co-host Jemele Hill’s tweet in which she called President Trump a “white supremacist,” among a series of other anti-Trump tweets.
“The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN,” the network announced in a statement. “We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.”
Hill’s tweet ultimately led to her removal from the once-popular 6 p.m. “Sportscenter,” and then her departure from ESPN.
But with Hogue — who ironically works on “user experience” initiatives — all Google has to offer is a defense that its search engine and other products aren’t biased. That’s already been proven to be a lie.
No corporate outrage over an employee’s profane wish for political enemies to die and go to hell. No apology, no investigation — at least no announcement of such to provide any assurance to the millions who use their products — which means Google has no decency or sense of shame.